NASCAR cooks up some RICE?

Toyota joins the NASCAR lineup in 2007... does this mean sake' instead of Budweiser at races?

What if Your Car is a Hypochondriac?

i just saw a commercial for "On Star", a GM service that links your car to the GM SUPER BRAIN... it can find you by GPS if you are in trouble, your can can e-mail you if there is a mechnical problem through a self-diagnostic...

But if there is a problem with your car, do you really want to trust a "self-diagnostic"?

Back to a REAL Sportscar

Proposed for 2008, Volkswagen is bringing back the Scirocco/Corrado... but they haven't settled on a name yet. Scirocco is more "retro"and nostalgic (which, i think, was first introduced in the States in 1978), but based on the picture i stole from somewhere, it's going to look a lot more like the Corrado. While the Corrado looked like an updated Scirocco, it wasn't introduced as a replacement, and they were on the market side by side for a couple years.

They are keeping the project pretty hush hush, even to VW employees. At the Milwaukee Auto Show this past weekend, even the VW reps had no more info that i already did... but it will be interesting to see a VW fastback on the road again. i know that the GTIs are pretty cool, but after they introduced the MkII Golf in 1985 replacing the MkI "Rabbit", the Hot Hatch just hasn't been that hot to me. Even though the MkII was a larger car than the MkI, the engine didn't get any bigger in either the standard Golf or the GTI.

The new MkV GTI that was introduced this year has gotten back to basics. If i were in the market for a new car, it is one that i would seriously consider... but i'm not...

For the Love of Money

Anna Nicole Smith is again in the news, still in the news, forever in the news. She is going all the way to the Supreme Court to fight for her deceased husband's money. His blood family has been fighting her in court for his riches since the day he died; they won their case at the State level, but the Federal courts supported Anna Nicloe, as they should. The man, at 80+ years old, marries a woman a fraction his age. He would be an utter fool if he had thought they had many years left together. Whether true love or not between the two... maybe he hated his family SO MUCH that he wanted to make sure that he had someone ELSE (Anna Nichole) to whom to give his fortune.

Who cares if their marriage was "real" or not? She deserves his money because, well, that is what HE wanted...

Second Hand Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

Milwaukee is talking about banning smoking from ALL bars and restaurants within the next few years. Thi is something that is still in legislation, but it is a law that is in effect in many cities around the US (and Canada).

Non smokers feel that they have the right to NOT be exposed to second hand smoke, and yes, in public places this should be true. But what people fail to recognize is that bars and restaurants (as well as other businesses) are NOT public property; they are PRIVATE property open to the public. Yes, it is in an owner's best interest to kep his customers happy because happy customers will return. to spend more money. But if there is something about a business that you don't like... DON'T RETURN. This goes for prices, food selection, and whether or not they allow smoking. Personally i think that combining eating and smoking pretty gross, and i think a lot of smoker's agree with me. A smoker should be able to wait until a meal is over before they need a cigarette, or restaurants SHOULD have smoking/non-smoking sections... but bars are places that people go to spend significant amounts of time.

Many bars welcome cigars and pipe tobacco; others strictly forbid any smoking except for regular tobacco cigarettes. No one would require all bars to allow cigars and pipes; it infringes on their rights to conduct a legal business as they see fit. As long as smoking is legal, it should not be banned from all bars.

I think that a non-smoking alcohol bar is a niche market that could be very successful. But in the mean time, it is not a private business owner's obligation to appease YOU.

Church of Latter Day Satanists

Another symptom to being home sick is all the bad TV i am stuck watching... i almost hate to admit that i am watching the Martha Stewart show... but Donnie Osmond is on and he looks the same as he did back in the 1970's even though he is now a grandfather.

i think that this is proof that people CAN sell their souls to preserve their youth. What other explanation IS there?

Son of Darth Vader's mask

My Fast...

Kraut beats rice

Geuhr-mann engeeneering in der HAUS

UnPimp Your Auto

Ja!

Worth fighing for

two of my favorite things in one video... cool toys and cool cars...

MINI

Love is color blind

They say cats and dogs are color blind, but i always wonder if our pets notice when we change clothes? Obviously they aren't going to notice the difference between your various pairs of blue jeans, but what if a goth chick all of the sudden woke up one morning and put on all white? Would her cats freak out at the stranger in their house? A cat might not be able to tell the difference between dark red and dark blue, but they CAN'T miss the difference between black and white...

they are?

Scott Hamilton just said "The Swiss are known for their spins." (i'm watching the women's Olympic figure skating...)

i must be running in the wrong circles because i didn't know that the Swiss are known for their spins. Chocolate, banks, neutrality, watches... but not spins.

in comparison, i bet Michelle Kwan doesn't know what bootblacks do with chocolate cake... we all have our own little worlds...

My Precioussss...

the danger of me being home sick and on the internet is that i... shop...

i haven't actually bought anything, but there are things that i want...

hell, i'm looking at laptops for godsake... actually, when Milwaukee installs their city-wide Wi-Fi network, the money that i will be saving on NOT having a phone line to connect to the internet will buy me a computer. to connect to the city-wide wi-fi, you'll still need an ISP, but i'm currently paying more for the phone line than i'm paying for an ISP.

Well, not today

Haven't we been here before?

i'm home sick... again... this time i have pneumonia.

it doesn't help that over the weekend we had record cold temperatures with a couple nights dropping down to -35F windchill...

so, i've got my antibiotics, inhalers, decongestants... i'll be able to get in some quality Olympic viewing...

Oh Brother, where art Thou?

the art of NeoRepto

Speedy, Shooty, Dopey

Of all the Winter Olympic Sports... someone was de-medaled for doping in the Biathalon, a sport that makes most Americans say... "um...what?"

The Biathalon is a sport that has military origins, just as Olympic-level horseback riding does. Actually, most of the classic Olymipc sports are "military"-- chucking spears, throwing heavy rocks, vaulting over walls, wrestling... okay, there is nothing "military" about naked wrestling, but still... wrestling is fighting...

You still don't know which sport biathalon is, do you? It's that ski, shoot, ski, shoot sport. Cross Country skiing combined with target shooting... it's the one that, if it actually gets airtime it's shown at 4 am...

But yeah... a Russian woman was caught doping for the Biathalon. She lost her silver medal because of it. i think that would make whoever won the gold that much more proud. "I can ski and shoot and NOT cheat".

Dunno... is it SMART to dope-up to fire a gun?

Click once...

No matter how many times you push the elevator button, only one elevator will come.

it sounded more profound at 9 am this morning at work...

Reality check

There is stuff on the moon that my dad built.

let me just reiterate...

THERE IS STUFF ON THE MOON THAT MY DAD BUILT.

that is all...

Not always about me

I had this dream last night, and the end was about a friend... Not the whole dream, and it wasn't about me and her, it was just about her and something in her life. i was trying to help her, but her circumstance in the dream didn't want me helping her...

The setting started out the cross between a leather event and a fife and drum event... Camping and leather. i remember at one point putting on a black and red leather double-breasted trench coat. It was pretty hot, but in real life it would have never fit... Anyway...

there were lots of elements from both fife and drum events and leather events-- key-note speakers and weapons demos... And then i realized that i hadn't seen my friend in awhile. No one had.

we were kinda near hills/mountains... i got a tip where she might be, so i went to check it out. There was this livestock farm, with mostly horses. The stalls were empty though. The farm was owned by this older guy, in his 50's i think. Grey hair, mustache, flannel... But he looked really shifty.

i then found my friend...

she had married this guy... All in the span of knowing him a few days. (in real life, she's lesbian and not single, so this is even more strange.) but yeah, he somehow brainwashed her and married her. She didn't look like her real-life self, but it's one of those dream situations where you know the person IS who they are supposed to be.

i was trying to get her alone so that i could talk to her, figure out what was GOING ON, but the "husband" was never far away. She didn't seem herself, of course. She said goodbye to me by handing me a box of personal belongings to give back to her partner... i don't think that i actually opened it and looked inside, but the contents were implied-- things such as house keys, cell phone, maybe some jewelry from her partner...

she did not seem happy, but she wasn't coming back with me. The feeling i got from her when she handed me the box was "it's too late; i have no choice."

i don't know what to think about this dream, because as i said it wasn't about me and it wasn't about me and her... It was just about her, and it just happened to be in my brain. If this dream were about ME, i would assume that it was prophetic... But i don't know what to think about it since it is about someone else.

maybe i should have opened the box. That might have had the answer. i think that i am "obsessed" because this feels like a dream that NEEDS to be analyzed...

has technology gone too far?

i just saw a commercial for the new "SLVR" phone, which i thought was "Silver" but it's actually "sliver" because it is even thinner than the "RAZR" phone... which is freakishly thin...

i don't want a phone that small. don't make me buy a phone that small. i will break it too easily... and don't make me buy a phone that has no vowels.

Steps in Time

I'm watching the Today Show, and they are in Milan in preparation for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy... they just did a segment at the Grand Cathedral in Milan, the third largest cathedral in the world...

Now, i've been to a lot of cathedrals throughout Europe, but these numbers always blow me away...

The Grand Cathedral took over 400 years to build.

400 HUNDRED YEARS TO BUILD ONE BUILDING.

When you consider that architectural styles change through time, you can almost plot the time, like rings on a tree, as you start at the foundation and work your way skyward. i haven't seen this particular cathedral in person, but thinking back to Cantebury Cathedral the tour guide actually pointed out the differences in layers.

and here in the States we get all tingly when something is a 100 years old...

more about the Duomo: http://www.travel-italy.com/community/feature_articles/strolling_the_duomo.php

Just a light snack...

Saturday night Suka, Leslie, and i watched "Grizzly Man", the documentary of the dude who lived with the bears for 13 years and then one day got eaten by the bears... and when i say "dude" i'm not being cool or hip or lazy... when you see this guy you will also call him a "dude"...

He's a spoiled surfer type guy, not a scientist, and decides that he wants to commune with the Grizzy bears. He gives them cute names like "Mr. Chocolate". He gets too close to them. He interferes with their lives. He's pompous and stupid. You soon find yourself glad that the bears ate him (except for the fact that hunters shoot the bear that ate the guy. That is a sad moment.) They identify the dude's remains based on a wristwatch found in the bears stomach.

There is a spotlight-hungry ex-girlfriend who will tearfully "wear and cherish" the wristwatch.

Actually the tragedy of the movie is that dude brought with him a girlfriend and she got eaten as well. He probably convinced her that the situation was perfectly safe, that he was an "expert" (apparently the two of them had not known each other very long). You see her on camera for a few fleeting momnets, and she looks petrified to be out in the wilderness.

Watching this guy, it doesn't take a professional to spot that this guy is NUTS. My theory is that this guy had a deathwish, and that living with the bears was a very strange form of suicide. Unfortunately he subjected his stupidity onto an innocent and overly trusting girl... but that could have been a part of his plan all along. They got attacked in their sleep. I wouldn't have been surprised if he hung bait outside the tent that night. The camera was on while they were killed and eaten. That can't be a coincidence...